Boozin’ in the new year with Constellation Brands

Boozin’ … I meant bringing, definitely bringing in the new year with Constellation Brands

Here we are, folks … 2019. Can you even believe it? for a minute or two there at the end of 2018 you’d think we wouldn’t make it. People were talking about the stock market like, well, you heard them.

Sure, my portfolio took a bit of a hit. I bet yours did, too. Who cares, though? I still have all my shares – equity in companies I’m more than happy rolling with in good times and bad – and the world is still spinning. The sky isn’t actually falling!!!

All joking aside, since we made it to 2019, and the stock market is still a thing, I’m going to do what I did in 2018: buy more dividend stocks. I also plan on blogging about it a little more regularly than I did last year. That said, I made a purchase today – the first trading day of the new year – and I figured I write a little something about it.

Today’s Purchase: Constellation Brands

If you haven’t heard of Constellation Brands, I’m sure you’ve had a drink of one or two of the fine beverages in its portfolio. My personal favorite is the whisky from High West Distillery. If you haven’t had a lick, go find some. You won’t regret it … and you’re welcome. The company also owns some beer brands (Corona, Ballast Point, Modelo and some others), a bunch of wines (like Black Box Wines, my wife’s personal fav.) and some liquors like Svedka vodka and Case Noble tequila.

Oh, and if drinking isn’t your thing, you’ve probably heard about the $4 billion investment in Canopy Growth. The verdict is still out on that investment, but I’m of the belief it’s going to pan out pretty well.

Constellation Brands (STZ) has pretty much all the bases covered and, currently trading neat it’s 52-week low, now seems like as good a time as any to scoop some up. I picked up a share for $162.37, bringing my position to 2.00387 shares (thanks in part to a recent dividend that was automatically reinvested).

The stock was trading above $230 a share in the summer, and not a whole heck of a lot has changed since then … other than the aforementioned investment. I can understand people being a bit nervous about buying a significant stake in a marijuana company, but come on. Business is good. I mean, EPS (earnings per share) are up 135.74% last quarter verses the same quarter a year ago, the P/E ratio is at 9.63 and EPS is at 16.70.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the dividend. My position will earn me a projected $5.93 in the next year ($2.96/share). The current yield is pretty low (1.84%), but so is the payout ratio (17.70%). On top of that, Constellation has shown quite a commitment to the dividend, raising it an average rate of 43.99% over the course of the last three years. That’s some serious growth. I mean, it paid $0.93 a share as recently as 2015. Now look at it.

I like the company, I like it’s outlook and I like its products. In fact, I’m thinking of pouring myself a glass of High West’s Rendezvous Rye right now. Cheers!

Today’s Stats

Here’s the only two numbers from 2018 you need to know (as they pertain to my portfolio): $6,553.89 and $199.17. The first is the total value of my portfolio as of the start of the year while the latter is my forward annual dividend income. I’ve since added to both of those numbers … and plan on doing a whole lot more adding as the year goes on.

As for today …

Gain/Loss: +$25.95 (0.39%)

Annual Income Growth: +$2.96

Portfolio Value: $6,729.61

Hope you all had a great holiday season. Check out my Portfolio if you haven’t already. Follow me on Twitter (@marchtoward1mil), Instagram (@marchtoward1mil) and Facebook (@marchtowardamillion) and let’s build some wealth.